Dear Lifehacker,
I have a messy desktop. It's gotten so bad that there are files on top of files. I periodically throw various documents into folders to try and clean it up, but then I just have disorganized folders and the mess comes back. How can I get my desktop under control?

Sincerely,
Desktop Disaster

Dear DD,

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From the looks of your desktop, it seems like you have a few problems contributing to the mess. This is the case with most, as few people toss just one kind of file on the desktop. Disorganization problems generally occur because you've found a single repository for several items. At one point you realized this space was a convenient location for your documents, photos, screenshots, and so on. If you were just dumping text files onto your desktop, you might not have such a problem. Before we get into how to solve this issue, let's outline the various culprits:

Text Documents - When you create a text document, your first inclination is to save it on the desktop.

Screenshots - Your screenshots are automatically saved to the desktop, so they become part of the clutter by default.

Web Links - You save web link files to the desktop, which creates a series of very unnecessary files and actually takes longer than many alternatives. We'll talk about some of these a bit later, but don't forget you can just use the bookmarking tool built into your web browser.

Photos, Videos, and Other Media - You drag media you want to save onto your desktop, but there are much better places to save these files that will make them easier to find and view.

Random Folders - You keep regular folders on the desktop that have no specific purpose.

Folders for Organization - Your folders, which you're trying to use for organizational purposes, are unspecific. If they don't have a direct purpose,

Step One: Declare Desktop Bankruptcy

The first step is the easiest and can help you feel a bit of immediate relief. All you have to do is create a new folder called "Old Desktop" and put everything on your desktop into it. Leave it in there so that it is the only item visible (outside of your hard drive, or anything else that shows up automatically). Now you have a clean desktop. Without more work, it isn't going to stay that way, but it helps to have the overwhelming mess is out of sight while you work to make your desktop something more useful than a glorified garbage can.

Step Two: Create a Desktop Organization Plan That Actually Works

To keep yourself organized, you need a little structure to guide you. I use two systems: one for Dropbox, and one for my desktop. Together, they keep me very organized but these systems have also become very specific to what I do. You need to come up with a specific system that meets your needs as well, and understand that it's something you can evolve over time. That said, you have to start somewhere, so let's look at the core items you should have for a well-organized desktop.

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Start by creating the following folders:

The Dump - Anything you're currently working on goes in this folder.

The Landfill - Anything you've finished working on that you don't need anymore and want to archive goes here. (Archiving can involve copying them to an external hard drive or some other kind of storage that isn't a part of your computer. (Many web hosts offer unlimited storage for a low monthly fee and you can just upload the contents of your landfill to a private directory on their server. This gives you online access to all the files whenever you need them and you don't have to keep them on your machine.)

Incoming Media - Any photos, music, or video that you need to sort go here.

Get in the habit of saving your work to The Dump rather than the desktop, and at the end of each day (or periodically during it) you should decide what should stay because it's actively being worked on and what can be archived or sorted. To help you get into the habit of saving to the dump instead of your desktop, it helps to set it as the default folder for new windows and save/open dialogs. To do this on a Mac, go to the Finder and choose Preferences (or press Command+,). In the General tab, find the drop down menu under "New Finder windows show" and use it to select The Dump. Windows users can do this by right-clicking on the Windows Explorer icon in the taskbar, right-clicking on the Windows Explorer icon in the resulting jump list, clicking on Properties, and then heading to the Shortcut tab. From there, just fill in the "Start in" field so it contains the path to The Dump.

Once you've got this all set up, you have a basic sorting method on your desktop. This won't be enough, but it's a start. You'll probably want to add another folder or two to suit your needs, but you're definitely going to need to set up some other helpful apps to help you avoid sorting so many things in the first place.

Step Three: Use Apps and Services to Put Desktop Clutter Elsewhere

There are many apps out there that are incredibly helpful when it comes to keeping track of the things you create and find on the web. They can help you keep clutter off of your desktop, help you sort the information you give them, and easily search for anything you can't find outright. You should make as much use of these tools as possible.

Evernote - Evernote is an everything bucket, which is generally not the sort of thing we like. It's kind of how you've been using your desktop. That said, if you use Evernote for specific purposes it can be extremely helpful when you're trying to organize. Basically, if you want to save photos, text, or anything else on the web, you can use Evernote's web clipping browser extension to send content directly to any of your Evernote notebooks.

Skitch - Windows users don't really have the problem of screenshots getting saved to their desktop by default—it's more of a Mac thing, so this section is really only applicable to people running OS X. Skitch is our favorite screenshot tool and it integrates right into Evernote. This means you can send your screenshots to Evernote rather than the desktop, and have more control over what you capture on your screen. If you just want to change where your screenshots are saved, open up Terminal (in Your Hard Drive —> Applications —> Utilities) and enter this bit of code:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/Desktop/Screenshots

That'll save all your screenshots to a folder called Screenshots on your desktop. If you want to save them to a different location, just change the path (i.e. ~/Desktop/Screenshots) to the location of the folder you want to use. If you're not sure of that path, you can just drag a folder right onto the Terminal window and it'll tell you.

Simplenote - It's a great, free, plain text note syncing webapp that has great desktop apps for all platforms. It's the best place to store your plain text notes and retrieve them easily. I highly recommend using this for to-do lists, text snippets you want to save, groups of links you want to visit, thoughts you want to jot down, or any other piece of text you want to remember. There's very little organization required as you can search for the contents of any note you create and have it in front of you in seconds.

Instapaper, Pocket, or Kippt - Instapaper and Pocket are both services that are great for saving web articles you want to read later. They're also great at putting them in a more readable format that isn't rife with advertisements and other distractions. Kippt is a service that helps you save more than just articles you want to read, but generally things you like on the web and want to save for later. If you want to be able to easily share those things with friends, and get recommendations of other things from friends, you may prefer using Kippt instead. (Most of these services have mobile apps as well.)

Belvedere and Hazel - Belvedere (Windows) and Hazel (OS X) are apps that help you automate various things, such as the cleaning of your desktop. You can follow these instructions and they'll help you clean up any remaining clutter on your desktop. This isn't going to be as exact and perfect as sorting everything yourself, but can help you out while you're working to change your messy habits.

All of this software isn't going to automatically make you neater, of course, but can give you more suitable locations for your stuff than your desktop. It'll take practice and time to get used to using them, but stick with it. These apps and services can make organization much easier.

Step Four: Start Sortin'

I hope you didn't forget about all the clutter you put into a single folder on your desktop in step one! We've finished all the fun steps, so now it's time to get down to the tedious dirty work: you have to sort that folder. This will not be fun, but now that you have a bunch of sorting folders on your desktop you'll know where to put your work. Presumably you also have other folders on your hard drive for specific types of files, such as the defaults in your home directory that contain photos, music, video, and other items. Also, you may also find that the new apps and services you set up in the last section are great places to store some of the items you need to sort as well.

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Once you're done sorting, you're well on your way to a more organized desktop. You'll need to keep making an effort for awhile before tidiness becomes a habit, but if you keep evolving your methods of organization so they work better for you then you should get there in no time.